Minnkota 24v on 3.7m tinny

[Kyle Grice]

Hey fellas,

Just put the recently acquired minnkota 80lb 24v bow mount on my creek basher. I got it cheap 2nd hand & fixed it up by replacing the control board & rebuilding the steer motor. It has the Ipilot. Thought i would share a few tricks to get it all setup as a lot of people were telling me it could'nt be done

Was a bit of a pain but acheevable. First i made up a support for the front nose using a piece of treated pine cut into a T shape which i then turn upside down (this is how i levelled my casting deck as well). The timber i sourced from bunnings i use the outdoor steps( for the T shape pieces) its cheap & strong & find the best grain i can from the range at the store..then I nutserted the raised aluminium sheet underneath and screwed it down with stainless bolts before giving the timber a couple coats of bondcrete. Then I cut some 18mm marine ply. To suite the shape of the bow.

The front casting deck finishes on the original support/crossmember on the tinny so i simply butted the edge up and nutserted the tail of the marine ply to the support.

Measured up 2 x 12v 105ah batteries marked them all out on the plywood & sourced a pair of stainless battery retainers from ebay. It was a bit of a pain to get it all in. Had to screw the battery retainers in once the batteries were in place.

I drilled & bolted down the troll motor bracket on the edge of the curved bow & shimmed it to get the quick release to align as needed. Ran the cable down through via a grommet & used a set of KT Cables 50amp 2 pin trailer plugs to connect to the batterys. The cables are protected via a 50a circuit breaker.

Pretty happy with the results & all done in a budget.. now i can go chase a few barra after the pots are sunk

[Kyle Grice]

Some more pics. The last is just a visual of the T supports. I shaped the bottom to suite the curve of the hull along each rib on the deck. The battery support was easier being flat!

The raised flat casting decks made using 19mm construction ply all bondcreted 3x along with the pine battons & T pieces supporting it. Cheers

[myusernam]

24v...
Does if plane?!

[Kyle Grice]

Haha yeh mate it should via the trolling motor alone now tinnys got a 25hp mariner 2 banger. Does 49 klicks with a 14 pitch prop & had serious bow lift before this so should settle it down a lot I'm fairly certain.

[kc]

Min kotta and flathead 022.jpgThat is a lot of horsepower for a creek boat. You will get a lot of time on the water. My 80 lb, running a 1.7 tonnes CC lasts 10 hours in strong current. It won't even know it is turned on with a little tinny.

[Feral]

Just be careful when using that on spot lock, that will have enough grunt on that little boat to toss you overboard when it kicks in if your standing and casting and get caught off balance.

Otherwise how well does it sit in the water, the motor but particularly a pair of deep cycle batteries adds a fair bit of weight tot he nose.

[scottar]

Just be careful when using that on spot lock, that will have enough grunt on that little boat to toss you overboard when it kicks in if your standing and casting and get caught off balance.

Otherwise how well does it sit in the water, the motor but particularly a pair of deep cycle batteries adds a fair bit of weight tot he nose.

Yeah. First time out at least I would be careful slowing down and coming off the plane.

[Kyle Grice]

Cheers KC. That was my thought process i will never need to use the top speeds & from the research i did the 24v's are very current efficient on the lower settings. Should see me fishing for a weekend trip without running the batteries down too much to effect their cycles long term.

Feral most definitely. Especially with another on board & will have to just ease off on the 1st speed before moving via the remote. But this was more about fishing on my own with this arrangement allowing me to stealthily approach structure & spot lock at times.. It will take a bit of experimentation & adjustmemt to get used to it no doubt on such a small boat.

[Kyle Grice]

Yeah. First time out at least I would be careful slowing down and coming off the plane.

Noted mate. The outboard will likely need a trim adjustment to achieve a balance their with almost 60kgs up there. I have 3 prop pitch options ranging from an 11 to 13 & 14 & will adjust as necessary. Will be sure to report back on the settings & different position required. I think its most sensible to say that with this setup going crashing into wakes flat tilt would be a poor option & could lead to cracking etc of the hull so it will be a more levelled approach to navigating the systems.

[Chamelion]

Will be sure to report back on the settings & different position required

Well, come on then?